Steve Smith is the only sure thing in the Carolina Panthers receiving corps
The Carolina Panthers continued their offensive struggles during the preseason in Saturday night’s win against Tennessee.
The offense has yet to score a touchdown in three games and new quarterback Matt Moore has struggled to sustain drives.
All-Pro wide receiver Steve Smith has yet to see the field because of a broken arm he sustained in the offseason, but none of the other young receivers have stepped up to help fill the gaps left when Muhsin Muhhamad retired.
Dwayne Jarrett, who the team expected to take the leap into a more prominent role in the offense, has struggled. In his fourth year out of USC, he has 38 career catches for 388 yards and one touchdown but can’t find any consistency.
Rookie Brandon LaFell out of LSU has been impressive in spurts during camp, but he has suspect hands.
Kenneth Moore has good speed, but struggles to shake off defenders at the line of scrimmage and has a tendency to fumble.
Wallace Wright, Trent Guy, and Armanti Edwards–who played quarterback in college–are less established than the other three.
Carolina has spent a great deal of time trying to shore up the passing game during the preseason, running 117 pass plays versus 70 runs in hopes that someone will take control and step in.
The Panthers, in addition to the absence of Smith, have also yet to play running back Jonathan Stewart during the preseason.
Coach John Fox has continued to point out that the games have been played without two of his top three playmakers, but left tackle Jordan Gross thinks the offense just needs to work harder.
“We’ve got as young a group of receivers as you’ll probably find in the league,” Gross said following Saturday’s game. “You get in the huddle and there aren’t a lot of familiar faces at the receiving end of things. They’ve got to get better. We’ve got to protect better.”